Neonyt Starts A New Era In Düsseldorf | Why And How?

 

 

Neonyt has developed into the most important B2B community platform for fashion, sustainability and innovation. At the beginning of September, Messe Frankfurt announced the plans to roll out the event internationally. The first stop will be held in Düsseldorf from 28 to 30 January 2023. Why did Messe Frankfurt take this decision? Why did they choose Düsseldorf to start this new era? How will be the next edition, operated and implemented by Igedo Company? 

 

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Neonyt will take place as a B2B event in Düsseldorf from 28 to 30 January 2023. Igedo Company has assumed immediate responsibility for the operative planning and implementation of Neonyt in Düsseldorf. Since being founded in 1949, Igedo has gathered an extraordinary degree of expertise in the fashion sector and, with its events in Düsseldorf, plays a firmly established role on the international order scene at least twice a year.

In future, in Germany Neonyt will be held as a licence event concurrently with the Fashn Rooms in Düsseldorf, thus making Neonyt part of a successful international combination of some 600 international brands. The strictly sustainable spectrum to be seen at Neonyt will be held alongside the Agencies & Premium Brands (Showroom Concept), Avantgarde, Design & Contemporary and Accessories & Shoes segments of Fashn Rooms. This will benefit exhibitors and trade visitors because Fashn Rooms in Düsseldorf is also renowned for its content-creator segment, which is in line with the community DNA of Neonyt and offers significant potential as a multiplier.  

We interview Olaf Schmidt, Vice President Textiles & Textile Technologies, Messe Frankfurt; and Ulrike Kähler, Managing Director Igedo Company, to understand better this decision and how is it going to be managed. 

 
 
 
 

 

INTERVIEW WITH OLAF SCHMIDT & ULRIKE KÄHLER

Messe Frankfurt plans to roll out the event internationally. Can you give us some of the locations or more information about this?

Olaf Schmidt, Vice President Textiles & Textile Technologies, Messe Frankfurt: Messe Frankfurt is in contact with numerous potential cooperation partners and is intensively evaluating the brand launch abroad. Exact locations cannot be named at this point in time. What is particularly important for us in this context is that we want to offer our customers the synergies and advantages of a fashion fair in direct vicinity.

 

The first stop will be Düsseldorf, where Neonyt will be held biannually concurrently with FASHN ROOMS starting next January. What are the next targets for Neonyt in Düsseldorf?

Ulrike Kähler, Managing Director Igedo Company: One of the most important targets of Neonyt licensed by Messe Frankfurt in Düsseldorf is to win the professional community for the fashion location No.1 - Düsseldorf. At the same time, the entire fashion scene should be convinced of the topic of sustainability and this needs to be further developed and advanced in the sense of the community.

Another important target is to make the exhibitors of Neonyt retail-ready (which is often not yet the case) through the positive effect of the parallel order platform FASHN ROOMS and the established fashion location Düsseldorf. Because only those who are fit for retail can continue to push the change in the fashion branch.

Not only exhibitors and trade visitors should benefit in Düsseldorf. FASHN ROOMS is also renowned for its content-creator segment, which is in line with the community DNA of Neonyt and offers significant potential as a multiplier.

 

How long will Neonyt celebrate the event in Düsseldorf? How long is the license contract for?

Olaf Schmidt, Vice President Textiles & Textile Technologies, Messe Frankfurt: Beginning in January 2023, Neonyt will be held biannually and always parallel to FASHN ROOMS in Düsseldorf. The aim is to establish Neonyt as an important B2B platform in Düsseldorf together with our partner Igedo Company.

 

What format will Neonyt have within FASHN ROOMS? Will it be a fair-in-fair, i.e. a space with its own personality within FASHN ROOMS? Will it be held independently near Fashn, or will it be included in the FASHN ROOMS offer? 

Ulrike Kähler, Managing Director Igedo Company: Neonyt licensed by Messe Frankfurt Exhibition GmbH will be its own trade fair within the fair. That means it will have its own hall with a corresponding CI and its own entrance. However, buyers of FASHN ROOMS can also visit Neonyt and vice versa. There will be a combined ticket for both parallel events to increase the synergy effect and to facilitate the access for the trade visitors.

The conference area will be the link between the two events and will be used by both fairs - on the one hand the conference format Fashionsustain of Neonyt and seminars and trend lectures of FASHN ROOMS on the other side.

 

Which sustainable fashion exhibitors have already confirmed their participation in Neonyt 2023? 

Ulrike Kähler, Managing Director Igedo Company: It is still too early for exhibitor names at the moment the talks are just beginning. At the moment the application procedures are running, the companies have to pass the well-known sustainability check before they can be admitted.

The fact that FASHN ROOMS is taking place at the same time has an advantage for companies that do not (yet) pass the sustainability check: they can then present their collection at FASHN ROOMS and thus gain customers.

 

We consider it is a good idea to combine the sustainable offer of Neonyt with the offer of a general fashion fair with years of success such as Fashn Rooms. This will certainly open up new business opportunities for sustainable fashion exhibitors, who will benefit from the fashion buyer traffic that Fashn Rooms brings, but is Messe Frankfurt working on securing the visit of buyers specialised in sustainable fashion?  How? 

Olaf Schmidt, Vice President Textiles & Textile Technologies, Messe Frankfurt:  A successful start of Neonyt licensed by Messe Frankfurt in Düsseldorf is very close to all our hearts. That's why we are supporting the Igedo to the best of our ability by implementing the most important B2B community platform for fashion, sustainability and innovation. So we will be regularly informing the Neonyt community about the highlights of the event in Düsseldorf across all our available channels.

By holding Fashionsustain in Düsseldorf during Neonyt licensed by Messe Frankfurt in January, we are also creating a point of attraction for all players in the textile and fashion industry who want to actively participate in a transformation of the industry towards more sustainability. Fashionsustain is aimed at innovation and product managers, sustainability and CSR experts, marketing and brand strategists, buyers, HR experts and young professionals from fashion, textiles, sourcing, retail, technology, NGOs, certifiers and start-ups.

 
 
 

UNION IS STRENGTH

“We are, of course, very pleased to have the opportunity to work intensively on Neonyt’s next stage of development. At the same time, this not only reinforces the position of Düsseldorf as a fashion centre but also shows the extremely high regard in which the Igedo Company is held by the sector even 73 years after being founded. Now, we must roll up our sleeves and work together closely to achieve the next targets set for Neonyt in Düsseldorf”, say Ulrike Kähler (Managing Director) and Philipp Kronen (Managing Partner) of the Igedo Company in their joint statement on this exciting development in the fashion-fair landscape.

 

“There continues to be no doubt about the potential of the sustainability community, and much has happened, especially over the last two years. Consequently, we must recalibrate our concepts and events. Given that many of today’s collections are only accessible to limited target groups, one of the biggest challenges is to make sustainable fashion suitable for the retail sector, too”, says Olaf Schmidt, Vice President Textiles & Textile Technologies, Messe Frankfurt. 

 

By expanding Neonyt, the Texpertise Network is successfully boosting the unceasing efforts of Messe Frankfurt in the direction of sustainability and continues to emphasise the collaboration with the United Nations. 

 
+ Words:
 
Belvis Soler
Luxiders Magazine